Sonia Gomes, Coroa de reis (2022), via Pace

On view this month in New York, and marking the first-ever solo show by the artist in the city, Pace Gallery opens a show of works by Sonia Gomes. Gomes, who is known for her use of textiles and everyday materials in her complex assemblages, brings physicality and movement to the fore of her work. On view from November 4 to December 17, this presentation, titled O mais profundo é a pele (Skin is the deepest part), showcases the artist’s impressive material and conceptual practice.

Gomes, a largely self-taught artist, first gained international recognition when the late curator Okwui Enwezor included her work in the 2015 Venice Biennale. Featuring juxtaposing forms, colors, and media, Gomes’s abstract assemblages have pushed the boundaries of conventional sculpture, forging connections between memory and abstract imagery that catapulted her onto the global stage.

Sonia Gomes, Untitled (2022), via Pace

In her first exhibition with Pace in New York City, Gomes presents recent works from 2021 and 2022, including hanging, free-standing, and wall-mounted sculptures that incorporate secondhand, gifted, and repurposed textiles; furniture; driftwood; wire; and other seemingly disparate materials. Through kneading, twisting, and stretching, she grapples with the stories and memories rooted in the fabrics, imbuing her resulting sculptures with personal and political resonances. In her laborious process for creating these multimedia works, Gomes considers sewing akin to drawing: a means to produce gestural marks and compositional balance.

Sonia Gomes, Cristal 1 (2022), via Pace

Two vibrant new works from the artist’s Torções (Twists) sculpture series, which will be included in Pace’s exhibition, reflect her interest in interactions between fabric and iron that create volume. Three pieces in the new series Entre Pérola e Vergalhão (Between Pearl and Rebar)—featuring freshwater pearls amid clusters of different fabrics—evoke shells, cocoons, wombs, nests, and other natural incubators. Supported by rebars, these works stand between three and four feet tall, encouraging viewers to bend their bodies to fully experience their formal nuances.

Sonia Gomes, O mais profundo é a pele (Skin is the deepest part) (Installation View), via Pace

Among the other highlights in the show is the light installation Constelação II (2022), which projects the intricate linear forms of its constituent bird cage and fabric components as shadows against the gallery wall. In the way of two-dimensional works, the exhibition will spotlight eight new pieces from the artist’s Tela-Corpo (Canvas-Body) series, in which she experiments with curved arrangements of graphic media amid color fields. Two hanging sculptures from Gomes’s Relíquia (Relic) series will be in the show—these works feature ornate abstractions comprising lace, buttons, various metals, zippers, and other combinations of materials.

Throughout, Gomes makes much of material as both signifier and structural element, turning the works into densely layered reflections on both the act of making, and its intricately layered meanings.

– D. Creahan

Read more:
Sonia Gomes [Pace Gallery]

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